With Sam Mennenga dominant, Parker Jackson-Cartwright running the show expertly and DJ Vasiljevic chiming in with 24 points, the New Zealand Breakers era under Gordon Herbert made the perfect start with the season-opening 95-81 win against the Illawarra Hawks.

Herbert has taken over as coach at the Breakers in NBL27 as one of the best credentialed mentors to ever join the league, and things couldn’t have started more encouragingly on Sunday at Spark Arena.

New Zealand were able to build on their advantage throughout the evening leading by four points at quarter-time, by seven at half-time, by 15 at three quarter-time and securing the 14-point win.

The Breakers finished shooting 48 per cent for the game including 10/28 from the outside and 15/16 at the foul line while having just five turnovers of which all came in the second half.

The stars all fired too led by Mennenga with the powerhouse delivering another poster dunk early and showing that he is a legitimate MVP contender for NBL27.

He finished with 27 points and eight rebounds on 11/17 field goal shooting.

Jackson-Cartwright was then outstanding running the point with 23 points and 13 assists while Vasiljevic made his Breakers debut with 24 points on 6/10 three-point shooting.

Reuben Te Rangi added 11 points with 3/5 shooting from the outside with Charles Bediako contributing six points, seven rebounds and two steals.

It wasn’t the start to the new season the Hawks were hoping for and they ended up shooting just 7/31 from beyond the arc and 16/25 at the foul line.

Davo Hickey finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Kelan Martin adding 13 points, two boards and two steals, Tyler Harvey 14 points and four rebounds, Milton Doyle 10 points, six boards, three assists and two blocks, and Sam Froling nine points and seven rebounds.

Both teams enter NBL27 with high hopes of being big improvers from a season ago and Sam Mennenga looks like taking the next leap, and he started off with 12 points in the first quarter.

That helped New Zealand to the 28-24 lead by quarter-time while they had zero turnovers to the four from the Hawks.

Mennenga added another nine points in the second quarter and with Parker Jackson-Cartwright up to nine points and eight assists, and DJ Vasiljevic 13 points by half-time, the Breakers were leading 54-47 heading into the break.

New Zealand still hadn’t had a turnover in the opening 20 minutes helping them get up an extra two shot attempts and six more free throws with the Hawks staying in touch with 10 points from Kelan Martin, and nine each to Davo Hickey and Tyler Harvey.

The Breakers pushed further out in the third quarter even while coughing up their first three turnovers of the game.

The home team had 22 points to 14 with Reuben Te Rangi catching fire from the outside to add an extra scoring punch while Jackson-Cartwright added another four points and three assists, and Vasiljevic eight more points.

That saw New Zealand leading 76-61 by three quarter-time before going on to score the impressive first up 14-point win even having lost Kouat Noi early and being without import Josiah-Jordan James.

The Breakers now have the quick turnaround to take on the Brisbane Bullets on the road on Tuesday night while the Hawks also played the Bullets away on Friday night.

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 95 – ILLAWARRA HAWKS 81

NZ Breakers
Sam Mennenga – 27 points, 8 rebounds
DJ Vasiljevic – 24 points, 4 rebounds, 6/10 3PT
Parker Jackson-Cartwright – 23 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Reuben Te Rangi – 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3/5 3PT
Charles Bediako – 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals

Illawarra Hawks

Davo Hickey – 18 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists
Tyler Harvey – 14 points, 4 rebounds
Kelan Martin – 13 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Milton Doyle – 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
Sam Froling – 9 points, 7 rebounds

Chris Pike

New Breakers era begins with big win